Aircraft passenger seats with backrests, seat elements, leg rests and foot rests are disclosed, e.g., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,352,020. The possibility of increasing the total length of the leg rest plus foot rest configuration provides a sufficiently long application surface available to the seat occupant, although only the short structural length extending from the seat element to the cabin floor is available in the non-use position for leg rest and foot support configuration.
A spring force accumulator, which may be blocked and unblocked by a control valve operable by the seat occupant, is provided for application of the force of displacement to the foot rest configuration in the disclosed aircraft passenger seat. When the spring force accumulator is unblocked, a displacement force acting on the foot rest configuration retracts the latter into the leg rest. To extend the foot rest configuration when in the raised position, the seat occupant must use leg muscles to extend the foot rest against the retraction force generated by the spring force accumulator into the use position and then block the spring force accumulator by actuating the control valve.
The value for the displacement force generated by the spring force accumulator must be high enough to ensure reliable retraction. Thus, seat occupant suffers the disadvantage of strenuous operation, since the displacement force must be overcome to use the foot rest configuration.